Page 384 of Kingdoms of Night

Nico reached for it, but Isa pushed him back gently.

“Thank you, but no,” she said. “How did you find us here?”

“We saw the wreckage.” The fae glanced toward the sea. “Any other survivors?”

“I … I don’t think so,” Isa said. She tried not to be happy about people dying, but she failed miserably. They’d done their best to kill her and Nico. The sea could have them with her best wishes. Hope was a wind filling the sails of her heart.

The fae bent his head and whispered something melodious in the fae tongue, a few phrases that might have been a prayer for the dead. It sounded reverent.

Isa tried to feel guilty again, but she couldn’t manage it. Fatigue stripped her of any artifice.

“We can take you to a port if you like?” the woman said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “I can’t imagine you wish to stay here after all the stories our men have told us about the vicious dryad elves.”

The fae spun in a circle, arms extended and a smile creating dimples in his handsome face. “Well, it is rather gorgeous, isn’t it? How about we explore a bit before heading back to dull civilization?”

Isa held Nico against her and he struggled to step away. “What did you say your names were? And what your purpose is out here in the middle of the ocean?”

“Ah, I am Captain Shadowhood and this is Merewyn of the Bones, kindly pirates at your service, milady.”

“That’s what I thought. Nico, run into the forest and don’t stop. Find our friend.”

“But … that man, you mean? He’s not—”

She whirled and knelt, taking Nico by the arms. “Go.” Anything was better than pirates.

He stammered, then ran off, his feet kicking up sand.

Isa set herself between Nico’s path and the pirates. “If you plan to take him, you’ll have to get through me first.” She sounded like a grand fool, because who was she against two people, let alone a fae? But she wasn’t going to let Nico be taken without a fight. “I won’t win, but I won’t go down easy either.” Her voice shook so hard she thought maybe they wouldn’t even understand her roughly accented Lore.

The woman held out her hands. “Eh, now, love. Calm yourself. We’re not slavers. We only steal from the rich to give to the poor.”

“Likely story.”

The fae stared in the direction Nico had gone. “I’m just disappointed they’ve never heard of me.”

The woman shook her head at her fae husband. “Focus, Werian.”

Isa jerked in surprise. “Werian? I thought you said your name was Shadowhood?” She swallowed, her heart thudding in her ears. What were these two playing at?

“Yes, wife, I thought my name was Shadowhood.”

“If we’re going to gain their trust, we need to share our true identities,” the woman said to the fae. Then she faced Isa. “I’m Princess Rhianne of the Agate Court.”

“You’re the witch who married the fae prince? Wait.” She faced Werian. “You’re the fae prince. I … I don’t know what to say…” Isa’s thoughts tangled into knots.

The witch woman—Princess Rhianne—nodded. “So we aren’t going to harm you. We have everything we need, and from the stories about us, surely you know we aren’t that horrible.”

She had indeed heard stories about the fae prince and his human witch wife, that they traveled extensively throughout the world and were the life of the party at every court they visited, including Wylfenden’s. They had false names and glamours they used when it pleased them, or so the tales claimed. Rhianne and Werian were most likely good folk.

And Nico was running from them and toward the unknown.

“Nico!”

CHAPTEREIGHT

ISA

Sweat rolled down Isa’s back. She clutched at her tattered dress as she sped toward the forest. They had a better chance with these royals than they did with whatever wild animals or strange men lived in the woods on this seemingly deserted island. “Nico, come back!”

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